Kiryas Joel lawsuit takes aim at Caesars' Woodbury proposal

Thursday

Aug 28, 2014 at 2:00 AMAug 28, 2014 at 7:57 AM

The Village of Kiryas Joel has filed a lawsuit opposing a proposed casino resort in Woodbury, posing arguments similar to those in a separate suit it brought last week against a rival casino project in neighboring South Blooming Grove.

CHRIS MCKENNA

The Village of Kiryas Joel has filed a lawsuit opposing a proposed casino resort in Woodbury, posing arguments similar to those in a separate suit it brought last week against a rival casino project in neighboring South Blooming Grove.

The new case, announced in a press release by the village on Wednesday, asks the state Supreme Court to void two recent agreements in which Caesars Entertainment promised the Town and Village of Woodbury a litany of payments for municipal purposes if it wins a state casino license. The suit also seeks to block any action on Caesars' development plans or a deal to provide sewage treatment to the project.

Kiryas Joel's attorneys argue the host agreements violated state law because they were reached without an environmental review to determine the potential impact of the proposed resort. Those studies are being done now in connection with the Woodbury Planning Board's review of Caesars' application.

The case is laced with past conflicts between the Hasidic community and its neighbors over growth-related issues, including the $45 million water pipeline the village is building, capacity at the county-owned sewage treatment plant in Harriman and Woodbury's zoning.

Kiryas Joel claims assurances were made to provide Caesars with water and sewer service and calls them ironic in light of the earlier disputes. Caesars expects its project to use about 200,000 gallons per day of water and wastewater treatment.

"The Town and Village have mounted relentless opposition to the provision of sewer and water to the residents of Kiryas Joel based on alleged deficiencies in the review of potential environmental impacts, yet here have promised the same resources to the Casino Project without any consideration of environmental impacts whatsoever," the village's attorneys wrote.

A Caesars executive issued a statement Wednesday blasting Kiryas Joel for what she called an "attempt to block economic growth, tax revenue and new funding for schools."

"Litigation, without merit like this, seems to be the weapon of choice for Kiryas Joel when it comes to progress and development," said Jan Jones Blackhurst, Caesars' executive vice president for communications and government relations.

Woodbury Mayor Michael Queenan disputed the notion that the village already has acted on the casino plans, saying, "We haven't approved anything. The only thing we did is pass a host community agreement in the event they get a license."

Queenan also questioned the religious objections to gambling that Kiryas Joel raised and the argument that it would be negatively affected by the Caesars resort, which would be more than four miles away.

"If they don't agree with gambling, then don't go to the casino," he said.